Month: November 2017

The Duke of Cambridge wrapped up a two-day jaunt to Finland today, carrying out the leg of a previously-scheduled Scandinavian tour that was mostly postponed due to the Duchess’s pregnancy. Finland, however, stayed on William’s calendar due to the country’s ongoing centenary celebrations, while Sweden and Norway were pushed until early next year.

Good lord, I forgot what a dour note this season ended on. By all reports, the second starts where the last picked up, in the middle of the Suez Crisis, which sounds fine to me considering the snapshots we got of the rising tension this episode deserved more and not less screen time. Alright, let’s get into it.

The Duchess of Cambridge visited the Robin Hood Primary School in London today, which is celebrating 10 years of a program in coordination with the Royal Horticultural Society’s Campaign for School Gardening. The idea behind the initiative is to teach children how to garden and encourage time and educational pursuits outside, which have been proven to benefit students. The highlight of the engagement, however, was without a doubt when Kate was shown a homemade caterpillar house dubbed “Bug-ingham Palace” and she burst out laughing.

Guys, I know there’s been a dearth of historical posts this month and I promise we’ll start rectifying that this weekend. Between recapping The Crown and the sheer volume of current news coming out in the last few weeks it’s been a lot and a few posts planned have had to be punted for December and January to accommodate. I can promise that I’ve written a handful of posts scheduled for next week and that things should slow down a bit with the Windsors as we get closer to Christmas. Unfortunately, the Duchess of Cambridge’s absence from the spotlight in September and most of October means there’s been a flurry of activity and, well, here we are.

On that note, Kensington Palace followed up on yesterday’s exciting news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement with a few more details on their wedding. As they told us yesterday, it is indeed scheduled for this coming spring. Per their announcement, the wedding will be held in May 2018 at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The Duchess of Cambridge stepped out for an engagement at the Foundling Museum today, but let’s get real, the only thing anyone cares about right now is yesterday’s engagement news. Naturally, Kate was asked straight away to comment and, still naturally, it is her answer that is driving the afternoon headlines:

“William and I are absolutely thrilled. It’s such exciting news. It’s a really happy time for any couple and we wish them all the best and hope they enjoy this happy moment.”

Well, that was illuminating. I’m dashing down some first thoughts now, having just watched what aired live, but I’ll fill this post out later in the day and add more images as they become available. It was particularly fascinating to watch this, I think, given that I had just re-watched the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s engagement interview from back in 2010. These are two very different couples – at least from whatever one can tell from brief television interviews – and they have two very different stories.

The tweet we’ve all been waiting for finally arrived: Clarence House posted at 10 am GMT that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged to be married. According to the statement, the couple became engaged earlier in November in London and a wedding is planned for Spring 2018. As of right now, they are both living in Nottingham Cottage in KP.

The main plot of The Crown’s ninth episode centers around Winston Churchill in the months leading up to his 80th birthday and eventual resignation from the post of Prime Minister. It’s one of the episodes that has helped garner criticism of the series for focusing more on the men in Queen Elizabeth’s life as opposed to her, but I have to say when I look back on these episodes it is both this episode and the one preceding it, Pride and Joy, which come to mind. I want to save the question of whether the male characters overshadow Elizabeth for another time, but I will say now that when you are faced with the inclusion of Churchill as a character, how could you make him a bit player when he was in fact so incredibly significant to the early years of the Queen’s reign?

The White Ship, ladies and gentlemen. Or, as I like to call, the Titantic of the 12th century. There are some similarities, actually, though this one had a by far more marked impact on the English succession. The ship sank on November 25, 1120 and it carried many members of the Royal Family, not least of whom was William Adelin, Duke of Normandy and only son of King Henry I.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge turned up at the London Palladium this evening for the Royal Variety Performance. The event is held in honor of the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund, of which the Queen is patron, and this year marks the second time that William and Kate have attended on behalf of the Royal Family.